No Father Saturdays
by HorseTechie
Summary: Natsuo woke up that morning in a much different mood than usual. Their father, the longstandng Nu9mber Two Hero, was out of town that weekend for business, which meant this Saturday was guaranteed to be way better. Despite coming down with a cold, he already had his agenda set. A 2019 SaS gift exchange (originally posted on AO3)


_Family is… _

**"No Father Saturdays"**

* * *

Natsuo woke up that morning in a much different mood than before. Their father, the longstandng Number Two Hero, was out of town that weekend for business, which meant this Saturday was guaranteed to be way better. Their overbearing father had that magical way of sucking the fun out of everything!

Well, except for the fact Natsuo had this killer sore throat bothering him all night long. But his seven year old mindset wasn't going to let that stop him from enjoying this once in a lifetime opportunity. "No Father" Saturdays were better than Christmas!

After stopping at the bathroom to get a drink of water and use the toilet, the silvery haired boy ventured to his parent's bedroom. There was a TV in that room and for those mornings when their old man was out, being able to watch TV in bed while bundled under the soft, warm covers became his secret luxury. His mom would wait to make breakfast and do chores later, instead of right away at the crack of dawn like it usually was.

This time, Natsuo noticed Shouto was already there under the covers right next to his mom, sleeping on his back as she held him close. The boy scrunched his face when a pang of jealousy hit him. Sure, his 'special' little brother got to sleep in their parents bed whenever he wanted too, but no one else could.

Shouto snorfed some snot in his sleep, reminding Natsuo that his brother had caught this stupid cold too. It was Touya's fault for bringing it home and passing it all around - the only thing his big brother had no problem with sharing! But his three year old brother still managed to look quite miserable despite being asleep. His cheeks were flushed and rosy from a fever, and snot had crusted on his nostrils. Partly to check, but also to try to help, Natsuo pressed his cold hands against Shouto's face. It did feel very warm to the touch, so Natsuo made his hands colder to help cool down his little brother some more.

That was about the extent of Natsuo's quirk though. The third youngest Todoroki could only make the things he's holding really cold. If he really worked at it, he could make a little ice… but that apparently wasn't what their father wanted - even if Natsuo said he could team up with Touya to become a fire and ice daring duo. Nope.

Father wanted _both_ fire and ice in _one_ person, however, and Shouto looked to be the one to finally possess that quality. Even his baby brother's left eye was blue, just like dad's, while the right one was grey. Natsuo thought it was especially wierd how that happened.

Natsuo just.. he had to be honest, he was envious of Shouto for getting _all_ of the attention. Natsuo was a lot kinder to his little brother now, but there were times he was still more of a tease. Maybe Shouto thought his big brother's hands had gotten too cold, and he whined out loud in protest while rolling over into his mother's chest for protection.

That in turn woke up his mom and she aroused further with an abrupt coughing fit. Then she noticed Natsuo standing there. "Ah, Natsuo.. good morning."

Natsuo quickly changed his composure to milk more sympathy. "My throat hurts.. a lot, mommy," he pouted softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" his mom frowned. Before she could act, he was already climbing up into the bed and scrambled over her legs to the other side.

"Can I watch TV?"

"How are you, first?" she asked instead, laying her hands on his forehead and face. "Hm.. not as feverish."

"Oh.. can I eat ice cream?" That new idea popped into his head. Because eating cold stuff was the thing to do when you're hot, and with a sore throat, despite the fact it was the middle of December. They were a family of ice people, afterall! He also had found the remote on the nightstand and turned on the big flat-screen television.

"I doubt there is any now," Mom pursed her lips, but was cut short with a few coughs. "How about some shaved ice?" she finally concluded with the idea of kakigori instead.

"Do we have any sweet syrup or fruit?"

"Hmmm..." she thought, before succumbing to more coughing.

Naturally, all this talk about something tasty had Shouto's attention and he sat up too. "Sweet ice?" the half and half tod sniffled again, his white and red hair tousled everywhere as he wiped his nose on his hand.

"Sho-sweetie…" their mother reached up to the shelf above the head of the bed to get a box of tissues. After wiping off his hands, she told him to blow into the tissues next.

Natsuo tuned them out now, his attentions on finding his favorite anime first. It was a real luxury to get to see his characters animated in living color, after reading the black and white manga for so long.

"Good morning!" Fuyumi announced when she walked into the room. The eleven year old was still in her pajamas, which was a long sleeve shirt and a pair of fluffy lavender, fleece pants. She was lucky enough to not get most of the hand-me-downs from Touya. Or his cold.

"Good morning," Natsuo and his mother responded almost in unison.

"Oh, Fuyumi, can you get the bottle of fever reducer from the dresser over there?" her mother asked, while holding her cold hand in Shouto's forehead.

"Nooo.. I want sweet iiiice…" the toddler was on the verge of tears, making his dissapointment very clear.

"Oh no, Sho-Sho's sick?" Fuyumi handed the medicine to her. She also grabbed a pack of wet wipes that she saw next to it.

"Unfortunately," their mother confirmed it. She again turned away to cough while opening the bottle.

"Are you feeling any better, mom?" her daughter asked, sounding more concerned. Shouto pretty much began to cry due to the misery his cold brought.

"A little..."

"I have a sore throat too," Natsuo decided to announce. Because yes, when it rains around here, it comes down like a big tsunami of 'oh crap'.

Fuyumi felt bad for her mom, so she took out a wet wipe and smiled at her little brother in an effort to cheer him up. "You'll be okay…" she gently wiped away the tears and more snot, "After this, we'll eat something good, okay, Sho-Sho?"

The toddler just whined some more about not wanting any medicine.

Natsuo sighed, finding all the commotion to be too distracting to watch TV. At that point, he also imagined Touya was still sound asleep because he stayed up late reading manga. He had seen him do that on the days their old man was out, because Touya knew full well he didn't have to wake up early for training. But his older brother still had to do a set of technique reps at some point each and every day. Their dad could tell if Touya didn't due to the slower reaction time due to not practicing.

With a huff, the silver haired boy slid off the end of the bed and headed down the hall to Touya's room. Being the annoying little brother that he was, it was a given that he had no sense of respecting one's privacy. Natsuo pushed his brother's door open without knocking, and then tip-toed around a handful of scattered manga volumes toward the sleeping figure on the floor under a ball of a feather-down quilt. Sadly, due to a number of hell-fire night terrors in the past, the luxury of a bed was something the twelve year old couldn't enjoy anymore. The most he had now were non-flammable futon quilts to sleep on.

With that in mind, anyone brave enough to jump scare Touya also had a death wish. Natsuo, unfortunately, did not heed this common knowledge. The oldest Todoroki was his own mystery. Even though he had the soft, silvery grey hair like Natsuo and their sister, it came as a surprise that Touya wielded a fire quirk. But unlike his old man, he got burnt by his own flames… a completely unfortunate side-effect from their mom's side. All of them couldn't stand the heat very much.

That didn't stop Natsuo from being an ass, however.

Touya hadn't even stirred yet, and the younger Todoroki grinned most wickedly as he gripped the end of the worn quilt tightly. In a instant, the faded light blue comforter was yanked clean off the slumbering figure, and for added measure Natsuo seised the bare ankles of his older brother with ice, cold hands.

Then came the flash of nearly white light from a sudden eruption of flame. Natsuo certainly had learned to master the trick of using the thick quilt to shield himself from the flame. It all just left him in a fit of giggles, as a result.

"Na-tsu-oo-o-ooh! _Whyyy_?!" Touya ripped the greyed quilt cover from his brother, hovering over him with his intense, ice blue eyes shooting daggers. Faint smoke waifed from his body as a handful of flickering flames danced around his shoulders and hands. Fortunately, Touya wore flammable pajamas too, but they still showed a bit of scorching from the sudden, intense burst of flame.

"Good morning, Touya-nii!" Natsuo smiled blithely in return from his prostate position on the tatami mat. That nearly toothless smile of an innocent seven-year old too young to die yet.

"Seriously…?" the slight boy continued his distress as he stomped the flames out on his manga volumes.

"Uhm.. at least it wasn't a bucket of ice water..?" Natsuo shrugged, tossing the quilt back at him. Yep, his older brother also had that unfortunate problem of keeping his flames under control whenever he got too emotional... or startled. Sometimes to keep Touya in check, their father would go to extreme measures like threatening to douse the pre-teen with water.

"Do you know _how_ much it hurts me when _you_ do that?" he continued, while shaking out his arms. Long sleeves covered them now, but he had seen them wrapped after some long training sessions with his father.

"You're not getting any better with your quirk?" Natsuo raised an eyebrow, trying to not sound too surprised.

"Rghhh! No..!" Touya moaned, causing a couple wisps of fleeting flame to flicker around and up his arms. "Father's going to give up on sending me to UA if I _can't_ get it under control… they don't want people who can't control their quirk!"

"Really? Is that what Father told you...?"

Touya just flopped back on his futon with a huff, pulling his quilt comforter over his head. Natsuo couldn't help but notice how much more moody he was getting. He couldn't help but notice more and more that year how Touya would hide outside under a large pine tree hear the rock garden within their father's estate. Natsuo was good at finding his older brother, and would just sit with him until he was ready to go back inside. Sometimes Touya would talk, other times they said nothing at all.

"But.. don't you still have time?" Natsuo sat up more to sit on his knees. He didn't like it when his older brother felt down about himself. Even though Touya was almost thirteen, he was shorter and looked younger than other boys his age at school. Their mother had wondered if it was due to his quirk (or conflicting quirks) putting so much stress on his body.

His brother's discouraged answer finally came from under the lump of comforter. "... he said if he doesn't see any improvement by the end of winter, then forget it. He'll focus on Shouto instead when his quirk shows."

"Suck," Natsuo muttered, because New Year's was not that far off.

"Language," Touya sat up while pushing down his puffy quilt to give Natsuo a more stern expression.

"I didn't even!"

"You tried, so don't," Touya scolded further.

Well, maybe it did sound like the F word. The fact Natsuo was missing his two front teeth gave him a lisp from time to time. He just made a face at Touya, still taken aback by his brother's change of face. "...I'm sure you would still agree.."

"Tch..." Touya's intensity had been cut short just so he could cough. He hadn't recovered from his cold a hundred percent either.

The younger just frowned, deciding to change the topic again. "Well, I got _your_ cold now- my throat is killing me!"

"Then die," Touya threw his pillow at him, hard.

Natsuo barely dodged it, but he did it with a smile. "So… can you help me make tea for mom? She's still coughing a lot," because sometimes Natsuo would think of things that seemed so unexpected… just to show that he wasn't completely selfish.

His brother's exasperated blue eyes locked with his own steely gray ones for a few long seconds. Then Touya fell back into his futon with a plop, followed by some more productively, heavy coughs that caused some flame to shoot from his ears. That reminded Natsuo of solar flares erupting from the sun, for some reason. Seeing his older brother sneeze flames was almost comical (despite the danger that imposed).

"Pleeeeeease?" Natsuo picked up Touya's arm and started tugging at his miserable, dead weight.

"Whyyy..?"

"Because I'm not allowed to use the stove.. or climb up on the counters... _or_ go near the knives-"

"Nnrrghh…" Touya interrupted, but still flat on his back and staring at the ceiling. "Now_ why_ do you need _knives_ to make _tea_?"

"Slicing the lemons.. and ginger?"

"And then ojiya too?" Touya sat up, giving Natsuo a side long glance. That was intended to be be sarcastic.

But!

"Oh, yeah! We should make that too!" Natsuo beamed, much to Touya's chagrin. The rice and egg drop soup would be a nice addition to help his mom feel better. He grabbed his older brother's arm again and this time was successful in hauling Touya to his feet. Weirdly enough, Natsuo was stronger than Touya and just a couple inches shy from matching his height, despite being only seven. Just Natsuo's unfortunate luck to be the only offspring with their father's burly build.

Touya plodded heavily behind him as they made their way down the dim hall and the stairs to the kitchen area on the first floor.

"I need to make ice for the ice shaver too… Shouto's really hot," Natsuo added, after Touya turned on the light.

"... how come you didn't you get Yumi? She's better at making all that," Touya muttered, arms crossed now. Fuyumi was just a year younger than him, so she had earned some kitchen privileges as well.

"She's helping mom with Shouto," came his lame excuse. Because, really, Natsuo just wanted to earn the recognition for thinking of doing all this for them. It's tough being the youngest middle child.

Touya made another face, conceding to his role. He opened up a cabinet in search of the desired pot.

Natsuo opened up all the doors of the large refrigerator and began pulling out food ingredients. As he was carefully bringing out the eggs, Touya's sudden swearing about fish made him bump the carton against the counter edge. Slimy goo spilled and oozed out from the unfortunate encounter. "Hey! I almost dropped all of these!"

"What are you doing with _eggs_ anyway?"

"For the ojiya!"

"We're making soup now?! What about the tea?"

"I'm gonna make both!"

But Touya's concern clearly wasn't about the eggs anymore. "No soup! Put those back!" the older Todoroki barked, distancing himself some more from the baggie full of dried, silvery anchovies that sat before him on the counter.

"I can make the soup," Natsuo refused his order, because Touya's stupid fear of fish was stupid. In order to make a stock for the soup, he remembered seeing his mom putting those anchovies in the water. How many though, that was another matter.

"No, stupid, you have eggs to clean up!"

But his brother, why? Touya hated the way dead fish stared at him with their soul-less eyes and mouths agape. That apparently made his skin crawl-

"Don't make me torch those! Put. Them. Back!" Touya sounded far more threatening than necessary.

"Tch… I'm going to tell mom," Natsuo frowned, finally making the effort to pick-up the baggie full of little shriveled, soul-less fishes. The anchovies wanted to take the long way 'home' though, so he escorted them right in front of Touya.

"Natsuo!" he swatted at the baggie, sending it flying. Unfortunately, his burst of flame had also melted the plastic enough so that the anchovies ended up being scattered everywhere.

_Every_where.

Like, little dried fish bodies on the countertops, and the floor, and...

That in effect caused a slip of ugly profanity to escape from Touya's mouth. Their father's temper had its way of affecting them in this way, apparently.

Natsuo pretty much witnessed his older brother's face morph from absolute horror before twisting into a furious scowl. The younger had to clamp a hand over his own mouth just to keep from busting out with laughter, and further aggravating Touya. His brother stepped away, now lit up in flames from the waist up, as his hands gripped his head. It was a surprise that Touya hadn't fled the scene yet. Maybe because he possibly felt responsible for what happened?

Nope.

Touya turned in his place, really trying hard to temper his flickering heat, and notably still some distance away from the anchovy covered, egg smeared mess that Natsuo was in the midst of. "_You_. Are cleaning. _That_ up. Before mom sees!"

"Hnn… it's still your fault though…" Natsuo thought to make that detail clear before.. well, taking a moment to figure out what to attack first. He grabbed a fist full of paper towels to wipe up the eggs, from the counter and the tiled floor, with a few anchovy pieces mixed in. Because, yeah… anchovies everywhere _was_ Touya's fault.

"Not that… _those_! Hurry!" he whined while pointing to the fish mess, still hovering near the doorway.

So Natsuo proceeded to take his time in picking up the anchovies, one by one to dust them off, because he didn't want to waste them. Sweeping them up would get them more 'dirty'. They were going to be boiled anyway, so that would kill any 'germs', right? They can afford to buy more, so it wasn't that. It just was he didn't want to get in trouble about it. And of it mattered that much to Touya, he _should_ help too. Mom or Dad would never have to know, if no one said anything.

Almost no one.

Natsuo recognized his sister's slippered feet in his peripheral vision as he scanned the floor for anchovies. _Damn_.

"What happened?" she finally asked the boys.

Touya just grumbled incoherently.

"I wanted to help by making tea, and soup, and then shaved ice too.. for mom an' Shouto, but.. um," Natsuo straightened up, but looked down at the floor.

Fuyumi smiled, regardless, while placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Natsu.. I can help."

"Thanks," he whispered. His older sister was one year younger than Touya, but her disposition was a lot nicer and more matured.

A few minutes later, after things were cleaned up, the three had delegated their chores more clearly. They also compromised by focusing on tea, shaved ice, and kakigori toppings.

Natsuo held the small, disk-shaped container full of water in his hands as it sat on the counter. His stare was intense, but the results from his efforts were sub-par. "Man… it's not freezing up."

"It's probably because you're sick," Fuyumi said, but in a way that meant to be more of a reassurance.

"I don't _want_ to think of all the germs you are getting everywhere," Touya openly stated his opinion to boot.

"Shut up… at least I'm not sneezing or coughing on stuff," Natsuo refuted.

"Yet."

"It's okay… just put the ice disks in the freezer," Fuyumi sighed, looking to Natsuo. She dumped the washed strawberries from a strainer into a bowl. "If they're not frozen yet, mom can finish freezing them."

The youngest pouted, dropping his hands. He was starting to feel a little more fatiqued after everything he had been through so far. "Why do they call it a 'cold', when you actually get hot?"

"Because it's when people get sick from _being_ cold," Fuyumi gave her best answer. The bowl of strawberries were set on the counter next to some diced mochi, and a couple bottles of strawberry and green macha syrup.

"But I hate being hot," Natsuo muttered. He slid open the bottom freezer drawer to carefully set the containers of water inside.

"And who was it running around in the snow with his shirt off?" Touya added his two cents again. He still stood next to the stove, stirring the simmering tea every now and then.

"I was being a polar bear!" Oh, let the banter begin.

"No, you were being an _idiot_."

"But I don't get cold."

"Yeah.. 'but'."

"He's got a point," Fuyumi agreed, just in case Touya needed 'help'.

Natsuo wasn't done yet in trying to 'one up' Touya. "How could I catch your cold if you sneeze fire?"

"You kept drinking out of my juice cans…" the older boy narrowed his sharp, blue eyes at Natsuo.

Natsuo smiled sheepishly, finally conceding. Touya won that round.

Growing bored, the younger Todoroki took a strawberry from the bowl to munch. The berry's sweet-sourness stung at his sore throat, but he ate it anyway. He walked to the table in the kitchen and pulled out the chair to sit on. Whenever their father was home, the number two hero preferred to eat with his family out in the more formal low, dining table where they sat on the tatami flooring. The table in the kitchen was more like the taller Western style.

"How are you feeling?" Fuyumi came over to put her hand on his forehead.

"Throat hurts and stuff," he made eye contact with her. Natsuo did feel hotter now.

"How about something cold to drink until the kakigori is ready?" she suggested kindly.

Natsuo nodded, then his eyes shifted to see who was coming into the kitchen.

"Oh.. all of you are too sweet!" their mother praised.

"Yeah.. I wanted to help you feel better by making everything for you," Natsuo jumped down from the chair. "But I couldn't get the ice frozen in time."

"Here's some honey-lemon ginger tea," Touya brought a steaming cup of the liquid to their mother while she set Shouto down.

"We're getting the kakigori ready too," Fuyumi bent down more to Shouto's level with a strawberry. She held it out for him, and he smiled before biting into it.

"Thank you for thinking of me, Natsu," his mom knelt down to hug him. Her soft warmth wrapping around him made him feel a little better somehow. "Get some rest too, sweetie."

"I will," Natsuo spoke into her neck while returning the hug. Today was going to turn out okay after all.

* * *

**_AN: To write something with the Todo family was one of the prompt ideas for a Secret Santa with the _**_Sarcasm and Sobbing Gift Exchange '19__._ **_Since I roleplay a younger AU version of the Todoroki siblings, I couldn't help but go with this one. There's something about family-like groups bonding that hits me in the feels. I'm also happy to know that Natsuo and Touya were also close in canon. I thought they would be with the RP I had with my friend._**

**_The anchovies though... I remembered this one guy I used to work with who had a fear of fish. He told me once he didn't like eating fish because he was also terrified of their appearance. Like when he was younger, and his dad took him on a fishing trip... it was the worse experience of his life! I had to make something of that with Touya... *innocent grin*_**

**_Thank you for reading and I hope this helped lift your holiday spirit! _**


End file.
